Read and comment on this story from the The Beacon Journal on Bolivia Peace Corps Physician C. William Keck who is retiring after 27 years as Akron health director. As Peace Corps Physician in Bolivia, he learned the true value of public health when he and a colleague took on a tuberculosis control project. They quickly realized they were in over their heads. They knew how to treat TB in the United States, but they knew nothing about how the disease is spread or how to treat it in a country where half the population was infected. They set up testing sites. Those who tested positive were treated. Those who tested negative were vaccinated. "And, by God,'' Keck said, "we got TB under control.'' Read the story at:

It's just that when he made that decision as a young boy -- the son of a country doctor -- he never expected to have a medical practice that served 217,000 people.

But that's how it ended up. For the past 27 years, Keck has been Akron's doctor, taking on controversial City Council-proposed abortion regulations in the 1970s, pushing for unpopular anti-smoking legislation in the early 1980s and offering a calm voice of scientific reason about HIV/AIDS in the mid-1980s.

Now 63, Keck is retiring as director of the Akron Health Department, effective Monday.

Throughout his tenure, Keck has earned a reputation as a quiet, unassuming administrator who would prefer to work behind the scenes. But those who've watched him work see that mild-mannered side tempered with a passion and a perseverance that hasn't let him back away from issues he's felt strongly about.

``He certainly speaks softly and humbly. He's a doctor and a gentleman,'' said Candace Campbell Jackson, board chairman of Akron Community Health Resources. ``The positions he's taken are consistently for the health and benefit of the entire community. While some of those issues may be controversial, he constantly wants to do what's right.''

Honors and awards

The community has noticed. His 10-page resume is filled with awards, achievements and community posts. He's attracted nationwide attention to the Akron Health Department. He's served as president of the American Public Health Association. And last year, he was awarded the public health industry's most prestigious honor, the Sedgwick Memorial Award.

When he learned of the award, Keck, in his typical self-deprecating manner, said he figured he won the award because ``I haven't goofed up too badly... or maybe I was the only one nominated.''

Not so, of course. When the award was announced, APHA associate director Richard Levinson said Keck was chosen because he's been an innovator, especially in the areas of childhood immunizations, health care for the uninsured and medical education.

Keck improved health care for the uninsured by persuading local hospitals to support Akron Community Health Resource Inc. He enlisted the hospitals' financial help again in creating a computerized immunization registry, and the LifeLink program, which encourages prenatal care.

What Keck has become best known for is the Health Department's involvement in medical education with the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, or NEOUCOM. By getting med school students involved in local health departments, Keck expanded their perspective of health care.

``I think in the last decade or so, there has been more of a push, small and reluctant in a lot of cases, to recognize that doctors don't practice in a vacuum,'' said Dr. Marguerite Erme, the Akron Health Department's infectious disease control medical officer. Including health departments in medical education tells future doctors, ``You'll live in a community and your patients live in a community, and what affects that community affects your patients.''

The real world

It seems like an obvious ideal, but it's been ignored in an educational system that focuses on diagnosis and treatment of diseases in individual patients, Keck said. Putting med school students in health departments lets them know there's a world beyond their next patient.

Keck didn't always think this way, though.

He was headed toward a job in internal medicine, until his first year of residency at University Hospitals of Cleveland. Whether it was the grueling 36-hours-on/12-hours-off schedule or just the type of work, Keck wasn't enjoying himself.

A trip to Bolivia with the Peace Corps changed all that.

Having regular office hours was one bonus, Keck said. But more importantly, he learned the true value of public health when he and a colleague took on a tuberculosis control project. They quickly realized they were in over their heads. They knew how to treat TB in the United States, but they knew nothing about how the disease is spread or how to treat it in a country where half the population was infected.

They set up testing sites. Those who tested positive were treated. Those who tested negative were vaccinated.

``And, by God,'' Keck said, ``we got TB under control.''

With that, his view of what it meant to be a doctor changed.

``There was no sudden epiphany,'' he said. ``But there we were, one year out of med school, and we were making a hell of a difference.''

After three years in Bolivia, he returned to the United States, finished his residency, then entered Harvard University to earn his master's degree in public health. His first job took him to Hazard, Ky., a town of about 8,000, where he became known as ``the long-haired hippie doctor who didn't want to make money.''

He also became known as ``Ardith's husband.'' His wife -- despite her misgivings about moving from Cleveland to Boston to a small Appalachian town -- took on celebrity status as president of the local garden club and architect of book clubs and cooking clubs.

His move to Akron raised his profile. Between the hot-button issues of abortion and HIV/AIDS, he continually spoke of the need for a change in the American illness-care system, as he calls it because of its focus on treating disease rather than preventing disease.

``We're focused on trying to answer the wrong darn question,'' he said. ``If as a society we asked, `What should we do to promote the healthiest population possible?' we'd have a much different systematic approach and design.''

Care for all

In other words, health care would be available to all, not just to those able to pay.

``If you look here at the poorest of the poor in Akron and compare their life expectancy to everyone else, there's a difference of 10 years,'' he said. ``Ten years. That's incredible. That's like having an Africa or a Bolivia or a Zaire in our own back yard.''

Keck won't be walking away from these problems in retirement. Though he's leaving the Health Department, he will continue as associate dean of community health at NEOUCOM, focusing on building the program he created.

Keck's replacement was named last week -- Dr. J. Michael Moser, director of health for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Moser will be following in the footsteps of someone held in high esteem.

But Keck knows what that's like, following the much beloved Dr. John Morley. As Mayor Don Plusquellic pointed out, that transition turned out to be a success.

``Having known Dr. Morley, the thinking was that we couldn't possibly get anyone to replace him, that we couldn't find anyone near as competent and compassionate... and lo and behold, we somehow found someone named Dr. Keck,'' the mayor said. ``He's done such a tremendous job. He's so dedicated.'' Tracy Wheeler can be reached at 330-996-3721 or tawheeler@thebeaconjournal.com Click on a link below for more stories on PCOL

Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Bolivia; Medicine; Public Health; Tuberculosis

PCOL380090

.

Add a Message

This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.